On Dayton Street: Enjoy The View, But Beware Of The Drop!

It's a long way down to the Pootatuck River from Dayton Street, and for the time being, the only thing between pedestrians, motorists and the river below are some traffic cones, reflectors, and caution tape. New guard railing is scheduled to be installed on November 5.

Photo: Andrew Gorosko

Traffic cones, reflectors, and caution tape along the side of the road on Dayton Street.

However, motorists who happen to drive on the street during the next several days should take care because the road currently has no protective barriers along its eastern edge, which is adjacent to a steep slope leading down to the river.

After removing some old rotted guardposts and guardcabling from alongside the road earlier this week, the town placed some orange traffic cones, yellow “caution” tape, and traffic reflectors alongside the street to make motorists aware of the edge of the pavement along the eastern side of the street, where the terrain takes a very sharp drop down to the river.

Michael Daubert, who owns a house at 21 Dayton Street, said October 30 that the current lack of protective barriers poses a hazardous situation for motorists and also for children who may walk along the street. Mr Daubert added that the road has no streetlighting, making it a very dark place in the nighttime.

Residents of Dayton Street reportedly have long sought to have the town place new protective barriers along the road as a safety measure and eventually sought state help to get the town to install those barriers.

Town Public Works Director Fred Hurley said that on November 5, the Atlas Fence Company of Branford is scheduled to install about 900 linear feet on flex-beam-style metallic guardrailing along the eastern side of Dayton Street. Flex-beam guardrails are the type of rail typically installed along the on-ramps and off-ramps at interchanges on interstate highways. Such guardrails are about three feet tall.

Mr Hurley said that the guardrailing project would cost approximately $17,500.

Atlas Fence performs such work for the town because the firm has the equipment needed to drive into the ground the metallic posts that support the flex-beam guardrails, Mr Hurley said. He said he expects it would take one or two days to install the guardrails.